Rashid and his online friends

Virtual Cyberspace Stories
Rashid and his
online friends
1
When Rashid opened his social networking page, he found a
friend request from a person named ‘Hassan’. According to his
information, Hassan was an intermediate school student (same age
as Rashid) who loved online electronic games and called himself
‘The Knockdown’.
2
Through online gaming, the two began to chat and found out that
both had many shared interests such as buying newly launched
electronic games and collecting games from the internet.
One day Rashid was playing online with Jaber, who was
in primary school and was also an active online game
player. Jaber kept asking Rashid questions about the
game’s tactics and techniques as he was new to the
game.
Since Rashid was social by nature, he didn’t mind helping
out his friends.
3
Whenever Rashid faced difficulties in passing
challenging stages of the game, he turned to his new
friend ‘The Knockdown’ for help.
Eventually, Rashid was able to skillfully skip these stages
and remain in the game, which demanded great effort.
He was able to pass the rest of the participants until his
name was placed at the top of the list.
He felt proud and was grateful to Hassan who was also in
the game among other players.
Days later, Rashid met Hassan in a chat-room and asked him of any new games he had. “I have a new game called
Labyrinth, which is an interesting game that requires skills and intelligence,” replied Hassan.
4
“Uh, I’ve heard of it from Jaber and everyone else, who keeps talking about it on the Internet. We should go and buy it,”
said Rashid.
“You don’t need to buy it. It’s really expensive. You can borrow my CD and return it when you’re done with it,” suggested
Hassan.
“Thanks Hassan, but I prefer buying my own copy.”
“Well, I have a good idea, what do you think of exchanging games
instead of buying the same ones? We get different games, share
them and doing that we’d save more money,” said Hassan.
“What a great idea, Hassan.”
“Let’s go for it today! I’ll meet you at the mall’s car park in half an
hour.”
A number of police officers swiftly
got out of their cars and arrested
the man.
Rashid was shocked and in disbelief.
“Are you saying that Hassan and Hassan’s father
are the same person?” asked Rashid astonished.
Rashid was worried, scared and
very surprised.
“Yes, that’s right,” said the policeman.
7
A few minutes later, a car stopped and a man
introduced himself as Hassan’s father.
“Hassan is still at the mall but told me to pass you these
games.”
“These are a lot, I had only asked for one,” said Rashid.
“Thank you so much, it’s very kind of you.”
“We’ve been going after such scams for a very
long time. Our goal is to reveal their bad intentions
of pretending they are someone else to deceive
innocent people and today we succeeded.
“I came by a taxi.”
6
10
“What about him? Is he also a bad person?” asked Rashid.
“Tell me, how did you get here?”
When he arrived, Rashid called his friend’s number but
was surprised to hear a man’s voice.
“I have another surprise for you about your friend Jaber.”
“Not a problem, Hassan is very fond of you. He talks a lot about
you, your talented skills and passion in online gaming.”
“How is that! Hassan should have told me to give you a ride. Get
in, we’ll take you home instead of waiting for a cab. Hop in we’ll go
to fetch Hassan.”
“Hi, may I speak to Hassan please?” asked Rashid.
“Hello, I’m Hassan’s father. He’s in one of the stores
to get something but will come now. Where are you?”
answered the man.
“I’m at gate number one wearing a green shirt,”
answered Rashid.
“No son. Jaber is me!
When you told me an hour ago online that you’re
leaving to meet Hassan, we knew that he was the
person we have been trying to track down and catch.
Let me give you an important piece of advice son.
Don’t easily trust people on the Internet. You have to
be very careful as you don’t know the kind of people
you are dealing with or their motives. You should
never share your address, phone number, age or
gender with your online friends, always check your
friends and ask for your parent’s advice.”
“We are on the other side of the mall, we’re on our way.”
Lessons learned
5
Both online friends exchanged phone
numbers.
“How about taking a taxi? Unless you want to wait a few more days
- because I will be away on camp and won’t be back for another two
days.”
Rashid told Jaber of his meeting with
Hassan and rushed to take a cab to meet
his friend at the mall.
“Well when you arrive, call me on my cell phone to tell me exactly where you are,” said Hassan.
9
“Don’t worry son, we’re the police. We are here
to arrest so-called ‘The Knockdown’ or Hassan
because he’s a fraud. He earns children’s trust,
then drags them into doing very bad things. We’re
very pleased that we were following him and
caught him red-handed.
Rashid got inside the car with
Hassan’s father, but the car was
suddenly surrounded by a group of
police cars.
“My father is not at home and I have no one to take me there,” said
Rashid disappointedly.
“I’ll be there! … I will excuse myself from my online friends and
quickly come to you.” replied Rashid.
News_Letter_05.indd 1-4
8
Police officers comforted Rashid and
introduced themselves to him.
• Be careful while dealing with others via the Internet
• Do not disclose your personal information to everyone
you know on the Internet
• Do not believe everything that is said in chat rooms and
forums. You have to be cautious
• Things on the Internet are not always true
12/12/11 10:59 AM
Use the Internet safely - in a public place
A Father’s Advice….
Always check the title of the page you want to log into:
Today, I received an email from a social network asking me to
experience has shown me the need to be closer to them and
verify the identity of the user by clicking on a specific link in
carefully control activities on the Internet. Some educational
the message. I was very surprised, as I had never requested
and psychological professionals suggest that young children’s
the network to create an account for me. Out of curiosity, I
online usage should be through what is called the ‘family
went to the site, entered the data sent to me and there came
computer’, which is a computer that is accessible to all and is
the shock!
placed in an open and shared place by all family members to
I have a daughter who is seven-years-old and a son who is
allow parents the opportunity to pay attention, even indirectly,
six. Both were recently introduced to the Internet and started
to the activities of their young children on the Internet.
to play with their peers online. I used to choose some safe
 Storytelling: A colleague of mine told me that he had a
educational sites for them myself. There are several sites that
good way of educating young kids of the dangers caused by the
are set up by educational institutions or large companies that
Internet through the use of an interesting narrative technique.
provide age-appropriate leisure and entertainment services.
He tells real stories about the Internet and each story has
The shock which I did not expect was the fact that children
a lesson to be learnt. For example he chooses a character
at this early age are able to access other websites and fill
‘Amina’ then tells her story and how she was deceived by
in the required data to login, including private and
sensitive information. My kids spontaneously
entered information in the data page
which required an email to activate this
subscription. To my surprise, I found out
that they entered my full name, date
of birth, as well as my place of work.
social networking and chat-room sites. Children in
early stages interact with such stories which
become part of their understanding and
behavior. Thus this reflects on how they
deal with the Internet. We should
also continuously warn them of the
dangers the Internet holds and the
importance of letting us know of
With this experience, I thought I’d
any experiences where they may be
share with you useful tips to prevent
faced with criminal behavior. This
some of the dangers and problems
associated
with
our
involves luring, meeting invitations
children’s
savvy
than we think: I personally
started to use the computer when I
was studying at university, and began
to use the Internet after I graduated from
college and joined my first job; while my
younger brother started to use the computer
and the Internet when he was a teenager.
I recently discovered that my children - who just started
going to school - were able to use the computer, access the
Internet and register with chat and social networking sites.
Through this simple comparison, we can conclude that our
children are more tech-savvy than we think and shouldn’t
assume that although our computer and Internet usage
didn’t start until we were older, that the same will apply to the
new generation’s thoughts, activities and interests, which are
completely different from their parents.
 Be closer: I thought that I had done my best in terms of
selecting safe educational sites for my children and therefore
was confident that their use of the Internet in this early age
would be limited to what I selected for them. However, this
If one day you decide to open your email account in an Internet café or lab, you will automatically
enter your username and password into the login page.
If error messages such as ‘please try again later’ or ‘the system is under construction’ appear,
you should be aware that this page is not the real page and would be surprised to know that it is
a designed fake page.
When you enter your private information, it is stored in a secret file which is copied or secretly
sent via email to the hackers and allow them to access your account later, after having access to
all your private data.
It is more dangerous and destructive when such acts are used to enter pages of bank accounts
via internet.
Advice: Before you begin typing the requested information, check the name of the site in the URL
address bar or close the browser completely and reopen it then type the desired address.
1
Many of us use computers in
3
It is not enough to logout of your account when finished, it is a good habit to close the browser
upon completion of reviewing your email account and deleting history files..
There are some browsers that have security gaps such as retrieving the history by repeatedly
clicking on the ‘back’ button and have the previous pages appear on screen. Things may not be
that simple, but in certain cases, these anti-security measures were found. It better to be safe
than risk someone accessing personal information.
public places to access the Internet, for
example, you may visit the library and use the
Advice: When you finish browsing, immediately delete the ‘History Files’ as well as the ‘Temporary
Files’ from the browser directory, then close the browser before leaving the computer by clicking
on the x.
devices available to surf the web, use Internet
cafes when travelling or kiosks in shopping malls,
or through computer labs at school or university.
These are some useful tips that may help you protect
your information and not violate the privacy of others,
especially when computers in such sites are used by
Check safety, security and privacy features of the Internet surfer:
many people. At times, there are untrustworthy people
I recently went to an Internet café to check my email. When entering my username, a long list of names
of previous users appeared. Out of curiosity, I clicked on one of the names and was astonished to
see the password bar was filled with stars which appeared before my eyes, which meant that I had a
complete access to that person’s account.
who wait to access other’s private accounts and social
networking pages, steal or impersonate people’s
identity for illegal purposes, such as identity theft.
This feature is known as ‘AutoComplete’ - which can be useful when using our own personal laptops
and computers at home on in the office, but certainly not in public computers.
Advice: disable ‘AutoComplete’ feature before using the computer and check it after usage. This is done
through the setup setting of the used browser. If using Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, click on:
1) 2)
3)
4)
Tools menu
Choose Internet Options
Content
AutoComplete (where you must disable the feature especially Username and Password).
If using Internet Explorer browser, click on:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
Tools menu
Choose Internet Options
Content
AutoComplete
Select Settings
Delete AutoComplete History (select what is required - we recommend you select
all available options to all be deleted).
Be careful when you temporarily leave the computer:
2
4
When using a public computer, you may sometimes need to leave the computer for few minutes. You
will need to be cautious as someone may be observing your moves and may want to check the screen or
tamper with the information while you are away.
Advice: Do not leave the computer unattended even if for a short period of time. If you urgently need to
move, nonetheless follow the advice above. You are also advised to remove your plugged-in flash memory
device as it may be vulnerable to sabotage, copying or installing spyware during your absence.
or requests for personal information
access to the Internet.
 Our children are more tech-
Close your browser when you finish and delete history files:
such as home address, phone
numbers, credit card numbers and
the like.

Learning new technologies: It is
extremely useful to be at least informed
of new applications on the Internet, and
understand the advantages and risks of those
applications so that we can warn our children and
Cookies are not
always delicious!
 These small files can be dangerous and may be used by
 Cookies may not be important for some of us but are
It is a violation of user privacy to distribute such information
some sites or hackers to cause harm. For instance, files may
important to others. The process of gathering information is
without
contain access information to websites such as username,
conducted in a hidden way to the user who does not know how
themselves.
so they are able to directly identify the location of the
much and what type of information is gathered about him/her.
We advise readers to go through the ‘help page’ in the browser
user when the site is visited again, without asking
Some sites are simple and some collect a lot of information
to find out how to get rid of cookies. You will also find security
to re-enter username. There may also be a
which would violate user privacy, for example browsing and
word. The word ‘cookies’ in its true sense is
and privacy settings of the Internet surfer.
form filling page and the user may discover
visiting websites is something private - if users were given
the kind of delicious biscuits that most of us
that some information already exists without
the choice, they may reject the idea of collecting information
Do you like cookies? Your answer could be a ‘yes’ or
a ‘no’, this depends on the real meaning of the
protect them against such risks.
love, which can be found in supermarkets
When my younger brother asked me to send him a “Tweet”
and restaurants. But since we use this

word to denote something in the Internet,
Other ways of using these files
 On the other hand, collecting data of surfer’s activities
I didn’t really understand what he meant, even though I am
it is quite different, so what is meant by
may exceed beyond gathering the information. The obtained
a daily user of the Internet. I surf the news sites, check my
is to monitor the behavior of web surfers
‘cookies’ in the cyber world?
to be made available to marketing and
information may subsequently be sold to institutions
email and complete many of the electronic services such as
and companies who could commercially benefit from
online banking and e-Procurement, but is that all there is? Of
advertising firms to recognize the interests
Cookies are small text files which contain
the information for marketing purposes.
course not, in today’s world there are many other electronic
of users according to the stored information
information that can be used by some
applications. Technology has become an essential part of
collected in the ‘cookies’ files. Since this is
Internet websites.
our mobile phones which may not be within our interest or
these files is now known as ‘Flash Cookies’
practice. For instance, social networks such as Facebook,
which are used in displaying and improving the
live-chat IM like BlackBerry, instant messaging via Twitter
Internet websites in a more interactive way.
and downloading or displaying videos on YouTube.
Another version of
This information varies from one website to another, but on
being entered.
getting
authorization
from
the
web
Safe Space
‫�سيف �سبي�س‬
SPACE
S A F E ‫ﺳﻴﻒ ﺳ‬
Published by ictQatar - Issue No. 2 - December 2011
‫ﺒ ﻴﺲ‬
Electronic Communication Networks –
most preferred Internet option in today’s world
Measurement, research statistics and studies on the activity
Such phones include iPhone, Blackberry and Nokia
of Internet users indicate that electronic social networks such
Smartphone which provide social networking applications
as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Bebo, as well as tens or even
within the basic software package. In addition to cameras
hundreds of other available networks are the most commonly
and internet services which allow us to publish, update and
used services by web users today. Perhaps the reason lies in
exchange information, images and videos in easy and quick
the easy usage of these networks and the diversity of services
ways.
associated with them. For instance, these networks may be
The statistics indicate there are more than three billion
used for personal or family memory recording purposes and
users of these social networks. During July this year (2011),
interactions, promotional and advertising companies, or to
Facebook announced the number of its users had reached
broadcast news and incidents.
750 million worldwide.
The easy access to technology is adding to the popularity of
These statistics give us a good idea of the impact of these
these networks and the increased number of users. Today’s
networks and how people interact with one another via online
technology is available to almost everyone, either via home
social networking as one of the preferred options for Internet
computers or laptops, and more importantly smart mobile
users. This virtual world has become an integral part of our
phones - which have become affordable for most of us.
daily lives and activities.
surfers
in such files.
automatic, web surfers would not notice that
their online behavior is being watched. The
information, which is linked to the activity and
Contact Address
PO Box: 23264
Al Nasser Tower
Al Corniche Street
13
Tel: 44995333 - Fax: 449359
a
ce.q
spa
afe
Email: info@s
behavior of web surfers, is analyzed by specialized
persons in marketing and advertising agencies. It allows
the whole, it contains information about the visitors to that page.
them to display ads and windows of promotional products
The following are some important points about ‘cookie’ files:
based on the nature of users’ activities and surfing.
for more info, visit our website
www.safespace.qa
News_Letter_05.indd 5-8
12/12/11 10:59 AM